System and method for performing assortment planning

ABSTRACT

A system, method and program product are provided for defining an assortment for use in an operative execution system. The method includes assigning a plurality of articles to the assortment for one or more article validity periods, assigning a plurality of stores to the assortment for one or more store validity periods, and releasing the assortment to the operative execution system. Once released to the operative execution system, the articles and the stores are automatically added to and dropped from the assortment based on the validity periods.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/551,221, filed Mar. 8, 2004 and entitled “Inventory Management,” andU.S. Provisional Application No. 60/563,284, filed Apr. 16, 2004 andentitled “Inventory Management,” both of which are hereby incorporatedby reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of merchandise andassortment planning, and more specifically to the use of systems andmethods for facilitating assortment planning decisions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, business models can involve buying merchandise and servicesfor one price and selling it for another. In the process, sellers canincur spectacular costs marketing to prospective and existing customers,leasing stores, paying employees, buying and maintaining informationtechnology, transporting, and, most importantly, buying and managing themerchandise itself.

Planning, at one level, is a strategic activity. Executives set businessobjectives and merchandise planners derive strategies to meet them: backto basics to reduce the style count, extended assortments withadditional colors and styles, or new lines of business such as health &beauty. On another level, planning is tactical and operational. The planinfluences how many styles and colors a merchant will carry. Itinfluences how distributions are planned for stores. It influences whenmarkdowns are expected to be taken for each style and color. It alsoinfluences which stores should carry each style.

One of the most important processes of such planning is assortmentplanning. Assortment planning provides answers to basic questions suchas: Which product or service? How much of it? What colors? What sizes?What locations? Who is the target customer? When should it be offered?How long should it be offered? and so forth. Thus, the old adage, theright product, at the right place, at the right time, still holds truein today's marketplace, but with one important change. Sellers—whethertraditional brick-and-mortar, e-commerce or a combination of thetwo—must have a compelling selection of merchandise for the rightcustomer as well. Thus, an effective assortment planning process thatprovides the right products and services at the right locations at theright time is essential for successful modern business operation.

An effective assortment planning process is ever more necessary inretail environments and particularly in fashion retail environments.Retail environments and fashion retail environments often require thatthe business adjust to relatively fickle needs of the consumer.

Although assortment planning directly affects product selection, price,timing and micro-merchandising, it has often been de-emphasized due tohectic retail schedules. Extinguishing delivery fires and meetingmarketing and financial planning obligations use valuable time, forcingcompanies to take the easy approach to merchandising: repeatingassortment breadth and depth from previous seasons, creating storeassortments based on store volume, and ranking items by sales volumealone.

Yet, to attract the right customer in today's increasingly competitiveenvironment, assortment planning must focus on creating appropriateproduct breadth and depth of products based on the customer's desiresand shopping patterns, taking into account lifestyles, climates, trendsand more. Furthermore, assortment planning must present a compelling mixof products to illustrate the company's strategic vision.

In view of the foregoing, it would be beneficial to provide a method andsystem that provides efficient implementation of assortment planningdecisions for merchandise. Moreover, it would be beneficial to provide amethod and system that allows for more flexible assignments of productsand stores to assortments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for performingassortment definition/planning (i.e., matching the right articles withthe right stores at the right times).

According to a first embodiment of the present invention, a method isprovided for defining an assortment in a computerized assortmentplanning system for use in an operative execution system. The methodincludes assigning a plurality of articles to the assortment for one ormore article validity periods, assigning a plurality of stores to theassortment for one or more store validity periods, and releasing theassortment to the operative execution system. Once released to theoperative execution system, the articles and the stores areautomatically added to and dropped from the assortment based on thevalidity periods.

According to another embodiment, a system is provided for defining anassortment for use in an operative execution system. The systemcomprises a central processing unit (CPU) and a storage device coupledto the CPU. The storage device has information stored therein forconfiguring the CPU to assign a plurality of articles to the assortmentfor one or more article validity periods, and to assign a plurality ofstores to the assortment for one or more store validity periods. Thestorage device also has information therein for configuring the CPU torelease the assortment to the operative execution system. Once releasedto the operative execution system, the articles and the stores areautomatically added to and dropped from the assortment based on thevalidity periods.

According to yet another embodiment, a program product for defining anassortment for use in an operative execution system comprisesmachine-readable program code. The program code, when executed, causesone or more machines to perform method steps. The method steps includeassigning a plurality of articles to the assortment for one or morearticle validity periods, assigning a plurality of stores to theassortment for one or more store validity periods, and releasing theassortment to the operative execution system. Once released to theoperative execution system, the articles and the stores areautomatically added to and dropped from the assortment based on thevalidity periods.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from the following detaileddescription and accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however,that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicatingpreferred embodiments of the present invention, are given by way ofillustration and not limitation. Many modifications and changes withinthe scope of the present invention may be made without departing fromthe spirit thereof, and the invention includes all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an exemplary enterprisestructure for a large retail company.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of an exemplary sales structurefor a large retail company.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of an exemplary site structurefor a large department store chain.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of an exemplary articlehierarchy for a large retail company.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary view of a particular business typedefinition.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary view of a layout for articles in apresentation area.

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic representation of an exemplary merchandisehierarchy.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic representation of an exemplary globalassortment that links together a plurality of stores and a plurality ofarticles at specific times.

FIG. 9 is a data-flow diagram showing an exemplary assortment definitionprocess.

FIG. 10 is a data-flow diagram illustrating the process described withreference to FIG. 9 in the context of a specific store and category.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a matrix spanned by two strategicdimensions which may be used for performing the assortment definitionprocess illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an excerpt of a theme structureincluding a plurality of standard assortments and a plurality ofsupplementary assortments.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating another example of a standard businesstype assortment and several store assortments assigned to particularconsumer themes.

FIG. 14A shows an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) forperforming assortment definition including a header (upper) area, atable (lower left) area and a store selection (lower right) area.

FIG. 14B shows the GUI of FIG. 14A with the store selection area turnedoff and the horizontal scroll bar in the table area moved to the farright to show additional columns.

FIG. 14C shows the GUI of FIGS. 14A and 14B with the header area turnedoff to show additional rows of store assignments in the table area.

FIG. 15 shows an exemplary view of an article hierarchy having variousnodes therein assigned to assortments and another node in the hierarchyassigned to a store as a check on the products that are assignable tothe assortment and thus the store.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates a general overview of an enterprise structure 10 fora company or enterprise 12 (e.g., “Enterprise XYZ”) having five segments(or data structures): a sales structure 14, a site or store structure16, an article hierarchy (or theme structure) 18, a merchandisehierarchy 20, and a purchasing structure 22. Enterprise 12 may be anytype of company that regularly needs to perform merchandise andassortment definition and planning, such as a large retail company, aservice provider, a non-retail supplier of goods, and the like.

Sales structure 14 represents the different sales channels used byenterprise 12. For example, FIG. 2 illustrates one possible arrangementfor sales structure 14 as configured for a large retail chain. Salesstructure 14 in this example includes an enterprise level node 24 andfour sales channel level nodes. The four sales channel nodes include aretail sales channel 25, a wholesale sales channel 26, a distributioncenter sales channel 27, and an e-commerce sales channel 28. Salesstructure 14 may be customizable by a user to include additional orfewer levels, as well as different names, to better represent the saleschannels associated with a particular enterprise.

Referring again to FIG. 1, site structure 16 represents the local,operative units within which the sale and logistics handling ofmerchandise (i.e., products or articles) or services takes place.Typical examples of such sites include stand-alone stores as well asdepartment stores, which unify collections of shops or departmentsrepresenting various consumer themes (e.g., merchandise categoriespresented to consumers in unified manner, individual shops in departmentstores, etc.). FIG. 3 illustrates one possible arrangement for sitestructure 16 as configured for a large department store chain. In thisexample, site structure 16 includes an enterprise level 30, a geographicregion level 31 (e.g., NE, NW, SE, SW), a department store level 32, anda shop level 33. Site structure 16 may be customizable by a user toinclude additional or fewer levels, as well as different names, tobetter represent the sites associated with a particular enterprise.

In contrast to conventional stores, department stores typically do nothave inventory-managing character for consumer merchandise, becauseinventory management on an article or value basis usually takes place atthe shop level. Nonetheless, the department store can represent anoverreaching inventory management level for consumable materials,advertising materials, and additionals. Although the department storeconventionally groups shops at a physical address, this is not arequirement. For example, different shops can exist at separate physicallocations and still be assigned logically to the same department store.Unless otherwise specified below, the term “store” may refer to aconventional store, a department store, or any of the individual shopsor departments unified by a department store.

Referring again to FIG. 1, article hierarchy 18 represents a hierarchyof articles down to the segment level. As will become clear below,article hierarchy 18 represents one of many possible ways tohierarchically organize and view articles and make assortment decisions.In FIG. 1, article hierarchy 18 is illustrated with a hierarchy ID level(e.g., a number) 34, a division level 35, a category level 36, asubcategory level 37, and a segment level 38. Article hierarchy 18 maybe customized by a user to include additional levels (e.g., a subsegmentlevel below segment level 38) or fewer levels, as well as differentnames, to better represent the merchandise (e.g., products or articles)layout associated with a particular enterprise. According to anexemplary embodiment, theme structures may be defined with up to 10levels.

Although the names and number of levels in article hierarchy 18 can becustomized, one level in article hierarchy 18 must be defined as the“category” level. The category level may be selected to represent theindependent presentation spaces in a store that are devoted tomerchandise categories presented to consumers in a unified manner. Inthe department store context, for example, the category level in articlehierarchy 18 may be selected to represent differentiated groupings ofshops in the department stores such as confectionaries, mensweardepartments, and ladies wear departments. Alternatively, a lower levelin article hierarchy 18 may be selected to represent the differentindependent presentation spaces for subgroups of merchandise (e.g.,long-arm blouses, short-arm blouses, trousers) within each shop in adepartment store. Other criteria for selecting the category level mayalso be used.

In an exemplary embodiment, the level in article hierarchy 18 selectedto be the category level has several additional properties that areunique to that level. One unique property of the category level is thatstores can be assigned only to that level. In FIG. 1, for example, theassignment of shops in site structure 16 to nodes in category level 36of article hierarchy 18 shows that category level 36 has been defined asthe category level. These assignments make sense primarily in thecontext of department stores, wherein the stores that are assigned to acategory are the shops in different department stores which (primarily)present goods from this category. For example, in most department storesthere is a section for “men's fashion.” Hence, a category may be definedin the system for “men's fashion,” and this section in the departmentstore may be treated as a shop in the system.

Another unique property of the category level in article hierarchy 18 isthat the assignment of articles (as described in detail below) tohierarchy 18 must be unique below the category level. That is, eacharticle can be assigned only once to a node at or below a particularcategory node. By contrast, the same article can be assigned again to adifferent node at or above the category level (e.g., the divisionlevel).

Reference is now made to FIG. 4 to further illustrate how articlehierarchy 18 may be used by an enterprise to better representmerchandise based on, for example, the arrangement of articles andproducts for displayed in the stores and shops. In this example, articlehierarchy 18 has been defined to include seven distinct levels,comprising: an enterprise level 40, a consumer field (CF) level 41, adivision level 42, a consumer theme (CT) level 43, a theme module (TM)level 44, an assortment module (AM) level 45, and an article level 46.CF level 41 may be selected to represent different high level groupingsof merchandise (e.g., fashion, sport). CT level 43 may be selected torepresent merchandise categories presented to consumers in unifiedmanner, such as the individual shops in a department store. TM level 44may be selected to represent the different independent presentationspaces for subgroups of merchandise (e.g., long-arm blouses, short-armblouses, trousers) within each shop in a department store. AM level 45may be selected to group articles according to various criteria such asthe time periods during which such articles will be displayed, thestores to which they will be assigned, etc.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the relationships between thevarious nodes in article hierarchy 18 may be as follows. Therelationship between the nodes of each level above AM level 45 and thenode(s) in the next lower level may be 1:n. That is, each node in TMlevel 44 may be assigned or linked to one or more child nodes in AMlevel 45, while each node in AM level 45 is linked to exactly one parentnode in TM level 44. In contrast to the nodes above AM level 45, therelationships between the nodes in AM level 45 and the nodes in articlelevel 46 may be n:m. That is, a single node in AM level 45 may be linkedto one or more child nodes in article level 46, while each node inarticle level 46 may be linked to one or more parent nodes in AM level45 so long as each parent node in AM level 45 is in a differentcategory. Thus, in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, article node 50may be linked to both AM node 52 and AM node 54 in AM level 45 becausenodes 52 and 54 are assigned to different categories. In particular, AMnode 52 is assigned to the category represented by CT node 56 and AMnode 54 is assigned to the category represented by CT node 58. In someembodiments, individual articles in article level 46 may be assigneddirectly to nodes above AM level 45. For example, article node 50 may belinked directly to TM node 53. This assignment is permissible because TMnode 53 is assigned to a different category than either CT node 56 or58. In an exemplary embodiment, the user can set a flag to indicatewhether the assignment of individual article nodes to more than oneparent node in AM level 45 and/or to other higher level nodes isallowable or prohibited.

After a theme structure has been defined for a company such as describedabove, one or more business types may be defined for each consumer theme(e.g., each shop in a department store) to further facilitate assortmentdefinition and planning as described below. A business type definitionmay be a grouping of all stores of a consumer theme, grouped accordingto criteria level and capacity, using a standardized procedure. Hence,the business type may be defined for every reasonable combination oflevel type and capacity for a consumer theme. As such, business typedefinitions can be used to provide strategic grid spacing of storesaccording to presentation capacity and level, in consultation withdivision and sales, taking account of location-specific circumstances.The aim of the level type is to describe a CT/store (e.g., a shop in adepartment store) with regard to the level of the assortment (defined,for example, by price level, brands features, and so on). Thus, thelevel type of a CT/store is determined based on question such as, inwhich price categories, with which brands, and which special features isan assortment carried. The capacity type aims to describe a CT/storewith regard to its capacity size expressed in, for example, a number oftemplate display racks. Thus, the capacity of a CT/store is determinedbased on questions such as, how many articles can be carried, with whichwidth and depth.

According to an exemplary embodiment, one or more business types (BT)may be defined for each consumer theme. An exemplary view 91 of abusiness type definition (with a rule set for capacity index) is shownin FIG. 5. The capacity index indicates a capacity relationship betweentemplate display racks (TDR) and individual display racks (IDR).Although not illustrated in view 91, each BT definition may include aspecific time reference (e.g., valid-from/valid-to dates). In addition,the capacity type and level type of each BT may be defined by numbers Nand M. In this case, the number of the capacity type for each businesstype represents a particular capacity range (e.g., N=1 may correspond toa capacity index between 0 and 1.0, N=2 may correspond to a capacityindex between 1.0 (inclusive) through 2.0, etc.). Similarly, the numberof the criteria level for each business type represents the “level” ofarticles offered for sale (e.g., M=0 may correspond to a flagship store,M=1 may correspond to a high end store, M=2 may correspond to a mediumend store, and M=3 may correspond to a low end store). Instead ofdetermining business types based on criteria level and capacity,business types may be determined based on or in combination with otherrelevant criteria such as historical consumption data by price level.

After the business types have been defined, one or more layout modulesmay be assigned to each business type definition to facilitateassortment planning such as described below. The layout module providesa pictorial view of the areas in the stores of the selected businesstype that are available to sell a particular consumer theme. Forexample, separate regions of the stores may be shown as separate“blocks” on a computer screen, whereby their respective locations andsizes correspond to their actual locations and sizes in the stores. Forexample, FIG. 6 shows an exemplary assignment plan including a pluralityof layout modules 93 (indicated as rectangles) of various capacities.FIG. 6 also illustrates a space 95 for promotions/close-outs and anotherspace 97 for fashion merchandise. This information is obtainedbeforehand and is stored in a memory for retrieval when particularstores or business types are selected.

Referring again to the five segments of enterprise structure 10described with reference to FIG. 1, merchandise hierarchy 20 provides analternative way of hierarchically organizing and viewing articles andmaking assortment decisions. An exemplary embodiment of merchandisehierarchy 20 is shown in FIG. 7. Merchandise hierarchy 20 represents along-term article grouping in a classification structure that isindependent of the store structure and merchandise presentation layout.Instead, merchandise is grouped in hierarchy 20 based on common inherentcharacteristics of the merchandise (e.g., all beverages may be groupedtogether regardless of their type and how or where they are displayed inthe stores).

In FIG. 7, a merchandise (MC) level 100 represents the lowest level inhierarchy 20. This means that different articles that are assigned tothe same MC node usually have at least the same characteristic(s)represented by the MC node. For example, articles 102, 104 and 106(comprising three blazers having different styles, sizes and/or colors)in an article level 108 are assigned to a single MC node 110 and thushave at least the same characteristic(s) (e.g., they are all blazers)represented by MC node 110. According to an exemplary embodiment, eacharticle is assigned to exactly one MC node in hierarchy 20, and multipleMC nodes can be grouped together to form merchandise hierarchy (MCH)levels. For example, merchandise hierarchy 20 is illustrated with afirst MCH level 112 (comprising a “jackets” category) immediately aboveMC level 100, and a higher MCH level 114 (comprising a “jackets/coats”category) above MCH level 112. Similar to article hierarchy 18, thetopmost layer in merchandise hierarchy 20 is an enterprise level 116.The nodes in the lowermost level in hierarchy 20 and in similarmerchandise group hierarchies may be referred to as merchandisecategories. Thus, categories may represent differentiated, independentlycontrollable group of articles and/or services that consumers recognizeas different and/or exchangeable to satisfy a need.

A merchandise hierarchy may be formed for various reasons. For example,it may be formed to: (i) plan an assortment (as described in detailbelow), (ii) enable structured analyses in the information system andthe planning of target and actual values at the MC level, and (iii) savecommon data (such as conditions) at superior levels to reduce storagespace. According to an exemplary embodiment, the following informationmay be defined for each MC node: price, color, and size groups; validityperiods; n characteristics, and status values. In this embodiment,colors may be saved hierarchically as main colors or single colors. Themain colors can have various characteristic values, which represent thesingle colors. In this case, the single colors are variant-creatingcharacteristics. Accordingly, a merchandise group hierarchy having thisstructure would allow for analysis of main colors, single colors, andattribute values.

The characteristics of articles in a merchandise hierarchy may be usedfor classification. Characteristics represent defined properties of anobject, such as the color of a blouse. Characteristics help todifferentiate objects from one another and find specific articles in theinformation system (e.g., list all articles with characteristic value“Red” of the “Color” characteristic). Characteristics can be eithervariant-creating (i.e., used in the definitions of the article variants)or purely informative. According to an exemplary embodiment, two orthree-dimensional variant-creating characteristics can be defined foreach MC node.

According to anther embodiment, below the MC level, and thus below theentire merchandise hierarchy, characteristic profiles may be defined tosegment or specialize the merchandise hierarchy. This may be done tosimplify the creation of new generic articles, variants, and singlearticles.

In this embodiment, a characteristic profile may be used to define theset of values for a characteristic that are permitted in that particularprofile. For example, a characteristic profile called “Ladies' sizes,Germany” could define the sizes 34 to 48. Multiple characteristicprofiles can be created for multiple merchandise groups. Acharacteristic profile can be assigned several times within themerchandise group hierarchy. Thus, every article that is assigned to amerchandise group can optionally be assigned to a characteristicprofile. According to an exemplary embodiment, the relationship betweencharacteristic-profiles and merchandise groups is n:m. That is, a singlecharacteristic profile can be linked to multiple merchandise groups, andvice versa.

As persons skilled in the art will appreciate, the use of characteristicprofiles provides several advantages. For example, characteristicprofiles can be used to (i) group sets of colors and sizes, (ii) assignthem to the relevant merchandise groups, and (iii) select the suitableprofile when creating articles.

Returning again to FIG. 1, purchasing structure 22 models the areas ofresponsibility and authority in purchasing. It consists of several buyergroups below each purchasing organization. According to an exemplaryembodiment, each article is assigned to a unique buyer group. The uniqueassignment of buyer groups to merchandise groups is preferred, but notrequired.

Turning now to FIGS. 8-15, a number of embodiments will be presented forperforming assortment definition and planning using the structures,hierarchies, business type definitions, layout modules and otherfeatures described above to both speed up and simplify the assortmentdefinition and planning processes. Although the description ofassortment definition and planning is presented below in the context ofa retail planning cycle, the present application is not limited toretail goods or planning cycles.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, assortment definition andplanning can be performed for various types of merchandise such asfashion merchandise and regular (e.g., stackable, non-fashion, basic,etc.) merchandise. As persons skilled in the art will appreciate,assortment definition and planning for fashion may differ fromassortment definition and planning for regular merchandise for variousreasons. For example, assortment definition and planning for fashiongenerally involves: (1) a higher proportion of new articles; (2) shorterlife cycles than the assortment planning horizon, and different, reducedpossibilities for short-term replenishment; and (3) capacity use issubject to fluctuations within an assortment planning period. Thus,assortment definition and planning for different types of merchandisemay be handled differently. In an exemplary embodiment, for example,assortment planning for regular merchandise may be performed at thetheme module level and from month-to-month, while assortment planningfor fashion may be performed at the consumer theme level and fromseason-to-season.

In the various embodiments discussed below, assortment definition andplanning for an enterprise may be performed using both local assortmentsand global assortments. When a store or distribution center is firstcreated, an assortment with the same name is also created. This may bereferred to as a local assortment. When articles are listed for theselocal assortments, they can be managed in the respective store in asingle step.

Assortments can also be defined which include several stores. These maybe referred to as global assortments. Merchandise quantities can beplanned for these global assortments, and thus for a group of stores, inthe assortment planning processes described below. Articles that arelisted for a global assortment can thus be managed for all assignedstores at one time.

With the foregoing in mind, FIG. 8 illustrates a diagram 117 including aglobal assortment 118 that links together a plurality of stores 120,122, 124, 126, 128 and 130 with a plurality of articles 132, 134, 136and 138. According to an exemplary embodiment, articles are alwayslinked to an assortment (either local or global), rather than directlyto retail sites.

Global assortments such as assortment 118 may be classified according toassortment type. Assortment type refers to an assortment attribute thatmakes it possible to control the strategic direction of the assortmentand its handling during assortment design/planning and procurement. Inone embodiment, the possible values for the assortment type may beconfigured by the user. For example, assortments can express thefollowing types: standard assortment-fashion; supplementaryassortment-fashion; and regular (e.g., non-fashion) assortment.

In the illustrated embodiment, assortment 118 may also be characterizedby one or more assortment dimensions 140. In general, assortmentdimensions are attributes of an assortment that can be used during anassortment definition process to group retail sites together to designstandardized assortments. That is, the assortment dimensions are used togroup together retail sites with similar characteristics to form anassortment that applies to all stores in the group. Retail sites can begrouped differently for different assortment types, i.e., differentdimensions can be used as grouping criteria. According to an exemplaryembodiment, an assortment can be defined using up to three assortmentdimensions. The respective value range or level of the assortmentdimensions may be defined and configured by a user. The value range orlevel of an assortment dimension can be defined differently for eachassortment type. By way of example, possible assortment dimensions mayinclude the following retail site characteristics: capacity, pricelevel/grade (high fashion, essential, basic) or sales for a certaingroup of merchandise, geographical region or location, climactic zone(warm weather, cold weather), demographics (urban, suburban), retailconcept, and so on.

With the foregoing in mind, an exemplary assortment may comprise aplurality of retail sites (e.g., store consumer themes or shops in adepartment store) grouped by category (e.g., consumer theme) with regardto price level/grade and capacity type. Grouping stores by price leveland capacity is equivalent to grouping stores by business type asdiscussed above. In this example, one assortment dimension is thecapacity, which may be represented by the following values: “0” to “9”for assortments with type “standard assortment-fashion” and“supplementary assortment-fashion;” and “1” to “6” for assortments withtype “regular assortment.” The other assortment dimension in thisexample is the price level/grade, which may be used only for assortmenttype “standard assortment-fashion” with the four values “1”—high-priced,“2”—mid-priced, “3”—low-priced, and “0” for exceptional cases (e.g.,flagship stores and showpieces).

Referring again to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, assortment 118may also be characterized by a category 142 (e.g., category level 36 inFIG. 1 or consumer theme level 43 in FIG. 4). Alternatively, assortment118 may be characterized by another level in article hierarchy 18 suchas subcategory level 37 or segment level 38 in FIG. 1. In assortmentscharacterized by store category, two of the three assortment dimensionscan be classified as, for example, level type and capacity type.Accordingly, a matrix-like definition of the store types can be mapped.By selecting a certain level type, the corresponding capacity types(e.g., extra small, small, medium, large, extra large) can be plannedfirst. The planned quantities can then be copied to assortments with thesame capacity type, but an alternate level type.

Referring once again to FIG. 8, articles 132-138 in the illustratedembodiment are not directly assigned to assortment 118. Instead,articles 132-138 are linked to assortment 118 by assortment versions 144and 146 during assortment planning. In the illustrated embodiment, eachassortment version 144, 146 is active or valid for a specified period oftime (e.g., valid-from/valid-to dates). For example, articles 132, 134and 136 are linked to assortment 118 by assortment version 144, which isactive between dates/times T1 and T3. Similarly, articles 132, 134 and138 are linked to assortment 118 by assortment version 146, which isactive between dates/times T3 and T4. As persons skilled in the art willrecognize, the foregoing time dependencies of the assignments ofarticles 132-138 to assortment 118 provides for automatic regular (e.g.,every month or six weeks) releases of merchandise in the stores tomaintain assortment freshness.

According to an exemplary embodiment, each assortment version 144, 146may represent one or more shelves 148 in each store assigned toassortment 118. Alternatively, each assortment version 144, 146 mayrepresent one or more display racks (which in turn may comprise aplurality of shelves), or one or more layout modules (which in turn maycomprise a plurality of display racks). If desired, a space optimizationprogram (SOP) 150 may be used to determine the optimum layout ofarticles for each assortment version 144, 146.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, the assignment of stores120-130 to assortment 118 during assortment definition also includestime dependencies. For example, stores 120 and 122 may be linked toassortment 118 between dates/times T1 and T2, while stores 124 and 126may be assigned to assortment 118 starting at dates/times T2 and T3,respectively. In the illustrated embodiment, the assignments of thelatter two stores 128 and 130 to assortment 118 is not time dependent,i.e., stores 128 and 130 will remain in assortment 118 until such timeas assortment 118 is canceled or changed. The time dependencies of thestore assignments may be stored in a data structure that also stores thestore assignments.

As indicated in FIG. 8, the assignment of stores to an assortment (i.e.,the upper half of diagram 117) may be referred to herein as assortmentdefinition. By contrast, the assignment of articles to an assortment(i.e., the lower half of diagram 152) may be referred to herein asassortment planning. Of course, persons skilled in the art willrecognize that different retail merchants may utilize different termsfor referring to these two concepts and hence the specific terms ofassortment definition and assortment planning should be understood asprovided merely for purposes of facilitating explanation of the variousexemplary embodiments.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a data-flow diagram shows an exemplary process154 for performing assortment definition (i.e., defining assortmentobjects and the store assignments). According to an exemplaryembodiment, process 154 includes a classification algorithm engine 156that receives inputs such as store information 158, category information160, and sales information 162. The source(s) of input informationprovided to engine 156 may comprise a keyboard, mouse, or similar inputdevice. Alternatively, the source(s) of input information provided toengine 156 may comprise one or more storage systems, such as a database.As another alternative, the source(s) of input information to engine 156may comprise one or more computer systems that are locally or remotelyconnected to engine 156. In the illustrated embodiment, for example,sales information 162 is shown as being provided from a database whichcontains historical transaction data (e.g., sales data from a comparableperiod in a prior year, which may be adjusted for recent sales trends).Sales data may also include forecasted or projected sales transactiondata for a future time period (e.g., the upcoming season). Forecastedsales data may also be based on a markdown profile for an article orgroup of articles. The assignment of a markdown profile to an article orgroup of articles is described in further detail in a co-pendingapplication entitled “Automated Control Of Pricing Using MarkdownProfiles” filed on Jun. 21, 2004, the entire contents of which areincorporated herein by reference.

Regardless of the source(s) of input information 158-162, classificationengine 156 performs a classification algorithm that mines the inputinformation to identify one or more dimensions 164 that may be suitablefor characterizing the stores that are eligible for inclusion in theassortment. After completing this task, classification engine 156provides the identified dimension information 164 to an assortmentdefinition engine 166 along with the original input information (e.g.,store information 158 and category information 160) or a subset thereof.

Assortment definition engine 166 uses the dimension information(possibly after approval by a user) and other input information (e.g.,information 158-160) along with previous and existing store assignmentsand assortment information 168 to perform a matching process thatclusters or groups stores into proposals for store-assortmentassignments 170. The matching criterion is based on the similarity ofdimension values of stores (e.g., as found by the classificationalgorithm) to the dimension values, which may be assigned manually tothe assortment object. The proposed store-assortment assignments 170 maybe presented to management for approval and release and/or used asinputs to one or more downstream processes without review. The foregoingprocess may be utilized to automatically generate proposals of suitablestore groupings (e.g., by business type) for assortments as well as whento implement them.

With reference now to FIG. 10, an example of how assortment definitionprocess 154 may be used to perform store-assortment assignments in aspecific context will be provided. In the illustrated embodiment, storeinput information 158 includes the locations of the stores (e.g., storesin the northeast) and associated category input information 160 (e.g.,the consumer theme of “Men's Fashion”). Based on store master and salesranking information, classification engine 156 identifies the region andsales volume of each store. The particular dimensions (e.g., region andsales volume) used to analyze each store and generate associateddimension information 164 (e.g., that the store is in the region NE andis a high volume store with respect to the category “men's fashion”) maybe prescribed by a user.

This dimension information 164 is provided to assortment definitionengine 166 along with store input information 158 and category inputinformation 160. At the same time, assortment definition engine 166 alsoreceives information regarding any previous and existing storeassignments and assortments 168 that are based on similar dimension andcategory information. Using this data, assortment definition process 154is able to provide a closed-loop system that allows for improvedrefinement over subsequent iterations. As explained above, assortmentdefinition engine 166 performs a matching process and outputs arecommended store-assortment assignment 170. The end result of thisprocess is that a particular input store is in the northeast region andis a high sales volume store for men's fashion, and therefore it isassigned to a certain assortment on this basis. Other stores located indifferent regions and/or having different sales volumes for the men'sfashion category would be matched with similar stores and the resultsused to provide other proposed store-assortment assignments. Inaddition, this process may be performed for other categories besidesmen's fashion to create additional store-assortment assignments.

As persons skilled in the art will appreciate, the foregoing assortmentdecision process creates proposed store-assignment assortments thatallow for more efficient assortment planning (i.e., matching the rightarticles with the rights stores at the right times). According to oneembodiment, the proposed store-assortment assignments generated byprocess 154 may be presented to a user via an assortment definitiongraphical user interface (GUI) 224 such as shown in FIGS. 14A-14C anddescribed below.

To further illustrate the concepts described above, an example of howassortment definition process 154 may be used to define an assortment ofstores for a particular category of articles (e.g., handbags) isprovided with reference to FIG. 11. In this example, the assortmentcreation process is graphically depicted using an assortment planningmatrix that includes two dimensions, labeled: “Price Level” (verticalaxis) and “Capacity” (horizontal axis). The assortment definitionprocess may be initiated using this matrix by defining an assortmentobject for every meaningful combination of price level and capacity. Forexample, “Assortment 35” may be defined and placed in square 172 torepresent stores assigned with the classification price level of “3”(e.g., low price) and capacity of “5” (e.g., medium). In addition,Assortment 35 may be assigned to the category “Handbags.” In thisexample, Assortment 35 may correspond to a shelf of a particular displayrack of a particular layout module carrying low priced handbags forfashionable customers in medium capacity stores. This shelf is typicallyreplanned regularly, and the temporal evolution is captured by the“assortment version” (or layout module version). Similar planningmatrices may be created for each additional category of interest (e.g.,suitcases, wallets, backpacks, etc.).

Next, stores may be assigned to the assortments (i.e., store clustering)using assortment definition process 154 described above. This isaccomplished by analyzing, for every store, all historical sales datafor handbags and classifying a capacity type according to the dimensiondefinition. For example, if a particular input store has the capacity todisplay 100 handbags at a time, it might be classified as a type “5”store. According to an exemplary embodiment, this analysis may beperformed automatically using automated classification engine 156described above.

In addition to classifying each store by capacity, each store in theembodiment of FIG. 11 is also classified along the “price level”dimension. This may be done, for example, by getting feedback from storemanagers, cash register receipts, or demographic analysis provided byexternal companies. This information may be held in a store masterdatabase and be updated on a periodic but relatively infrequent basis,such as once per year.

The result of considering all stores using the process discussed aboveis assignments of stores to assortments, which may be used as inputs toan assortment definition engine (e.g., engine 166 in FIG. 9). Accordingto an exemplary embodiment, the temporal validity of the storeassignments is specified and proposals can be revised and released. Theresulting configuration may be checked for consistency by the systemwithout need for human input.

Referring again to the illustrated example, the stores assigned toAssortment 35 represents a group of similar stores for which it islogical to carry a similar set of articles. This set of articles may bedetermined in a different step and assigned to Assortment 35 toestablish the desired article-assortment-store relation.

The assortment decision/planning process and system described above thuscreate new layout module versions which automatically become valid andlater invalid after predetermined periods of time have elapsed andassigns articles (e.g., handbags) to this version according to thestrategic target group (e.g., price level of “3”+capacity level of “5”).For example, an assortment layout module version may be defined tobecome valid after two months have elapsed and to become invalid afteran additional two months have elapsed. After finalizing this plan, thelayout module version is released, which means that the ordering processfor the relevant articles is started (at least for those articles whichare supplied by automatic replenishment).

As explained above, assortment planning for fashion merchandise andassortment planning for regular (e.g., non-fashion, stackable, basic,etc.) merchandise may be handled differently. For example, whereas thegrouping—and thus the standardization—in assortment planning for fashionmerchandise may be performed primarily using standard assortments fromthe business type definitions at the consumer theme level, the groupingfor regular merchandise typically takes place at a deeper level in thetheme structure, e.g., at or below the theme module. This difference isbest illustrated in FIG. 12, which shows an excerpt of a theme structure174. In theme structure 174, a standard (ST) assortment 176 comprisingfashion merchandise is linked to a consumer theme (CT) node 178. Themestructure 174 further includes two additional ST assortments 180 and182, which may be linked to other CT nodes (not shown) in themestructure 174 or to CT node 178 during consecutive time periods in thefuture. In addition to ST assortments 176, 180, 182, two supplementaryassortments 184 and 186 comprising fashion merchandise are linked to oneor more CT nodes (not shown).

As explained above, the assortments for regular merchandise are handledsomewhat differently in the exemplary embodiment. In particular,assortments 188 and 189 comprising regular merchandise are linked totheme module (TM) level nodes 190 and 191, respectively. Moreover, twoadditional standard independent assortments 192 and 193 comprisingregular merchandise may be assigned to one or more TM nodes (not shown)presently or to TM node 190 in the future. Similarly, another standardindependent assortment 194 for regular merchandise may be assigned toanother TM node (not shown) presently or assigned to TM node 191 in thefuture. As illustrated, each of the standard independent assortments188, 189, 192, 193 and 194 for regular merchandise may comprise a layoutmodule (LM), which in turn is defined by one or more display racks (DRs)of regular merchandise.

According to an exemplary embodiment, a store consumer theme is usuallyassigned to several assortments. Moreover, each store consumer themetypically has exactly one standard assortment (business typeassortment), which is derived from the business type definition asdescribed above. Because the standard assortment contains only fashionarticles in this embodiment, business type assortments are not assignedany articles for consumer themes that have only regular merchandisetheme modules. Instead, the regular merchandise articles are assigned tothe store consumer theme via the assortments in the layout modules.

An illustration of the foregoing embodiment is illustrated in connectionwith FIG. 13. In this example, a consumer theme 200 identified as “Socksfor BT 12” is linked to three assortments 202, 204 and 206. Assortment202 is a standard assortment for fashion (i.e., a grouping of storesbased on business type), which in turn contains links to a number oftheme modules. In the illustrated embodiment, standard assortment 202includes links to a basic theme module 208 along with specialized thememodules for elegance 210, appeal 212, young fashion 214, businessfashion 216, casual dress 218, and children's clothing 220. Assortments204 and 206 are both store assortments 222. In particular, storeassortment 204 is a store-specified assortment for a particular brand(e.g., “Fogal”) of products, while store assortment 206 is asupplementary assortment for area coverage (i.e., to fill gaps in aparticular store or group of stores). The capacity of eachassortment/sub-assortment is expressed in terms of a number of displayracks (DRs).

According to an exemplary embodiment, the grouping of stores by businesstype is sufficient to provide for a large majority (e.g., 95% or more)of the assortment planning for the stores in each group as a whole. Thatis, the stores of an enterprise are preferably sufficiently uniform whengrouped by business type (i.e., the same consumer theme/capacity/level)that most or all of the necessary assortment planning for these storescan be accomplished at the business type level. Then, the assortmentplanning necessary to link the remaining small amount of articles (e.g.,5% or less) to the right stores at the right times can be accomplishedusing supplementary store assortments. For example, the remainingarticles can be assigned using supplementary (global) assortments (e.g.,for store-specific brand management) based on store capacity or, in somecases, using supplementary (local) assortments (e.g., for flagshipstores).

Referring now to FIGS. 14A-14C, a graphical user interface (GUI) 224 isillustrated for displaying, revising and approving store-assignmentassortments, such as may generated by assortment definition process 154.In an exemplary embodiment, GUI 224 may be configured to perform one oremore of the following functions:

-   -   (i) Store dimension determination;    -   (ii) Automatic assortment assignment;    -   (iii) Add/change/delete new planned assortments;    -   (iv) Add/change/delete new planned assortment assignments;    -   (v) Master data display of store and assortment; and    -   (vi) Filtering/sorting/layout adjusting the list.

In the illustrated embodiment, GUI 224 includes a header area 226, atable area 228, and a store selection area 250. Header area 226 showsselection criteria for the assortments and the associated storeassignments which may be revised. Header area 226 includes a pluralityof selection criteria fields including an assortment type field 230, anarticle hierarchy ID field 232, an article hierarchy node (e.g., acategory) field 234, and a validity (or key) date field 236. Allassignments of stores to assortments that are valid at the date providedin field 234 are shown in table area 228 (discussed in detail below). Inmost cases, the validity date entered in field 234 is chosen to be inthe future because assortment definition process 154 typically definesthe store assignment configuration which should be valid for instancesof the next year.

Based on selection data entered into header area 290, all of the actual(i.e., current) and planned assignments of stores to assortments arepresented in table area 228. In the illustrated embodiment, table area228 includes an exception column 238, a plant (or store) column 240, anassortment column 241, a date from column 242, a date to column 244, acapacity type column 246, and a price level type column 248.

Exception column 238 shows the status of each assignment of a store toan assortment. Green indicates an assignment that has already beenreleased to an operative execution system, i.e., the store-assortmentassignment is actually in use. Yellow indicates an assignment that hasbeen planned but not yet released. Red indicates an assignment that isincomplete. Assignments that are planned are not visible “outside” theplanning system. After a planned assortment is approved and released tooperative systems, it receives the status released and the yellow lightin column 238 is replaced by a green light. From a planning standpoint,it may be important to know whether the assignments are already usedoperatively because, if so, changes should be limited. In theillustrated embodiment, operative (e.g., “actual”) assignments are shownin the left side columns of table area. If an operative assortment isbeing replaced by a new (planned) assignment, the new (planned)assignment is shown in the same row in the far right hand columns (seeFIGS. 14B and 14C).

Continuing with the description of table area 228, store column 240shows the stores, including the technical name (e.g., unique ID) and theassociated description. Assortment column 241 shows theactual/planned/incomplete assortment, including the technical name(e.g., unique ID) and the associated description. Date from column 242and date to column 244 show the validity period for the assignment.Capacity column 246 shows the capacity type of the store, and pricelevel column 248 shows the price level type of the store.

In the illustrated embodiment, GUI 224 may includes a plurality ofbuttons which may be selected (e.g., by clicking with a mouse) to invokevarious functions associated with assortment definition. For example,GUI 224 may include a “Find Assortments” button that may be selected tolaunch the store matching process and (potentially) propose a newassortment for each store. If this proposal is found acceptable to theuser and accepted, a new (planned) assortment is created and the oldassignment is terminated.

Store selection area 250 shows all of the stores that match theselection criteria entered into fields 230-236 in header area 224 buthave not yet been assigned to an assortment. In an exemplary embodiment,store selection area 250 includes a tree structure 252 that includes allof the eligible stores. In this embodiment, the stores may be draggedfrom tree 252 and dropped onto an assortment in table area 228 to createa new assignment manually.

With reference now to FIG. 15, an exemplary embodiment of an assortmentdefinition/planning system for restricting the assignment of certaintypes of products to particular stores is shown and described. In FIG.15, an article hierarchy 300 is illustrated with a structure such asdescribed above with reference to article hierarchy 18 in FIG. 1. Inparticular, an uppermost division level node 302 is shown linked to apair of category level nodes 304 and 306, each of which is shown linkedto a pair of subcategory nodes 308, 310, 312, 314. More specifically,category node 304 is shown linked to subcategory nodes 308 and 310,while category node 306 is shown linked to subcategory nodes 312 and314. In turn, each subcategory node 308, 310, 312 and 314 is shownlinked to a number of segment nodes. It will be understood that eachsegment node may be linked to one or more generic articles or articlevariants (not shown in FIG. 15). It will also be understood that theparticular structure of hierarchy 300 shown in FIG. 15 is merelyexemplary and that more or fewer levels could be used, as well asdifferent names for the various levels.

As described above, one or more nodes in hierarchy 300 may be assigned(or linked) to an assortment for purposes of assigning a group ofproducts to that assortment (and thus the stores in that assortment)during assortment planning. For example, subcategory node 312 may beassigned to a pair of assortments 316 and 318 to provide a groupassignment of the products under node 312 to assortments 316 and 318. Itmay be desirable to assign a single node to two assortments, forexample, when assortment 316 is for small stores and assortment 318 isfor large stores. As another example, subcategory node 314 may beassigned to a pair of assortments 320 (for small stores) and 322 (forlarge stores) to assign the products under node 314 to assortments 320and 322. After each of the foregoing assignments of a subcategory nodeto an assortment is made, one or more products beneath the subcategorynode may be excluded (e.g., using a suitable GUI) from the assortment asexplained above. Although not illustrated in FIG. 15, nodes above orbelow the subcategory level could also (or alternatively) be assigned tothe assortments.

In addition to the assignments of products to assortments, it is alsonecessary to assign stores to the assortments so that the desiredproducts are provided to the correct stores at the proper times.Typically, the assignment of the stores to the assortments is performedprior to assigning the products to the assortments using an assortmentdefinition process such as described above in detail. In FIG. 15, astore (or shop) 324 is shown as having already been assigned toassortments 316, 318, 320 and 322.

In an exemplary embodiment, an additional link can be established tocreate a check or restriction on the types of products that areassignable to a particular store during assortment planning. Morespecifically, a particular node at one level (e.g., a category level) inan article hierarchy may be assigned to a store to indicate that onlyproducts below that node are assignable to that store. In FIG. 15, forexample, a link 326 can be established between category node 306 andstore node 324 to restrict the types of products that are assignable tostore 324 to only those products below node 306. Thus, while theassignment of subcategory 312 to assortment 316 is permissible, theassignment of subcategory 310 to assortment 316 is not permissible (asindicated by a dashed line 328). The assortment planning system may beconfigured so that any impermissible assignments are completelyprevented by the system. Alternatively, the impermissible assignmentsmay simply flagged to users as possible errors in the system but allowedto exist. As yet another possibility, impermissible assignments may beoverridden manually, but only when appropriate supervisory approval isgiven (e.g., by entry of certain passwords).

As persons skilled in the art will recognize, a restriction or checksuch as described above with reference to FIG. 15 may be particularlybeneficial in the context of department stores. For example, if categorynodes 304 and 306 represent women's fashion and men's fashion,respectively, and store 324 represents a men's wear shop in a departmentstore, then it may be desirable to establish a link between categorynode 306 and store 324. When this assignment is made, any attempt toassign women's fashion products to store 324 during assortment planningwould be flagged as impermissible.

According to various exemplary embodiments, a replenishment system thatreceives data regarding one or more articles may be used to replenishitems. The data regarding the article may be received from any number ofsources. For example, in one embodiment, data regarding one or morearticles is received by the replenishment system from an assortmentplanning system. In another embodiment, data regarding one or morearticles is received by the replenishment system from an article masterdata management system. In another embodiment, data regarding one ormore articles is received by the replenishment system from a bestseller/slow seller management system configured to periodically identifyarticles that are selling at a rate faster or slower than a ratedetermined by a planned sales curve. In another embodiment, dataregarding one or more articles may be received by the replenishmentsystem from a combination of these inputs and or additional inputs,including manual input by a user from a keyboard, mouse, or other inputdevice.

The replenishment system uses received data regarding the articles toimplement a replenishment process. In a first step, the replenishmentsystem determines the articles that are to be included in thereplenishment process. For example, in one embodiment, the replenishmentsystem may be configured such that only data regarding articlesassociated with a particular predetermined “management type” isautomatically forwarded to the replenishment system and included in thereplenishment process. The management type may be, for example, apredetermined parameter included in data from either an assortmentplanning system or an article master data management system indicatingwhether a particular article is to be replenished using thereplenishment process or another process and/or system. Accordingly, inone embodiment, all articles for which data is received by thereplenishment system are automatically included in the replenishmentprocess. In another embodiment, the articles to be included in thereplenishment process are determined in response to user inputdesignating which articles are to be included in the replenishmentprocess, and data regarding these articles is then received by thereplenishment system.

In another step (e.g., a second step), the replenishment systemdetermines a supply channel for each article. For example, thereplenishment system may determine whether an article is to be sourceddirectly from a vendor or from an existing supply in a particularwarehouse. The replenishment system may also determine the particularrouting of the article (e.g., cross-docking, direct delivery, etc.). Inone embodiment, the supply channel for each article is determinedaccording to data for each article from either an assortment planningsystem or an article master data management system indicating aparticular supply channel. In another embodiment, the particular supplychannel for each article may be determined by the replenishment systemin response to user input designating a particular supply channel foreach article.

In another step (e.g., a third step), the replenishment systemdetermines the store in which each article is to be replenished. In oneembodiment, the replenishment system determines the store in which eacharticle is to be replenished according to a predetermined “businesstype” parameter. The business type parameter may be a parameter assignedby an assortment planning system which associates a particular articleor group of articles with a particular store or grouping of stores basedon, for example, a targeted price range or level for the article orgroup of articles to be replenished and the store or group of stores,and/or a particular capacity level or range associated with the articleor group of articles and the store or group of stores. For example, inone embodiment, the replenishment system may receive the business typeparameter from the assortment planning system indicating that a group ofarticles to be replenished using the replenishment process, such as“men's athletic socks,” is associated with a particular store or groupof stores carrying products in a mid-level price range and at a highcapacity level. The replenishment system then uses this data todetermined the store or group of stores in which the article or group ofarticles is to be replenished. In another embodiment, the particularstore in which the article is to be replenished may be determined by thereplenishment system in response to user input designating a particularstore for each article.

In another step (e.g., a fourth step), the particular method ofreplenishment is determined by the replenishment system. Thereplenishment method may be automatic replenishment, manualreplenishment, etc. In one embodiment, the replenishment system may beconfigured such that only data regarding articles associated with aparticular predetermined management type indicating automaticreplenishment is automatically forwarded to the replenishment system andincluded in the replenishment process. In this embodiment, all articlesfor which data is received by the replenishment system are automaticallydetermined as requiring automatic replenishment. In another embodiment,the particular method of replenishment may be determined by thereplenishment system in response to user input designating a particularmethod of replenishment.

In another step (e.g., a fifth step), supply parameters are determinedfor each store in which the article or group of articles is to bereplenished. The supply parameters may include, for example minimum andmaximum supply quantities of the article for each store, as well as thevalidity period of each article for each store. The validity period ofeach article may be, for example, a range of dates during which anarticle or group of articles will be displayed and offered for sale ateach particular store. In one embodiment, the replenishment systemdetermines the supply parameters for each store in which the article orgroup of articles to be replenished according to supply parameter datareceived from, for example, an assortment planning system or articlemaster data management system. In another embodiment, the supplyparameters for each store may be determined by the replenishment systemin response to user input designating a particular store for eacharticle.

In another step (e.g., a sixth step), a requirement quantity isdetermined for each article. The actual determination of the requirementquantity depends on the supply parameters as well as sales data for eacharticle or group of articles. Sales data for each article may include,for example, actual sales data (e.g., actual sales and supply of thearticle) and projected sales data for each article. Actual sales datamay be provided to the replenishment system from, for example, a bestseller/slow seller management system. Projected sales data may besupplied to the replenishment system in the form of, for example, amarkdown profile for a particular article.

In another step (e.g., a seventh step), the replenishment quantitydetermined for each article by the replenishment system is reconciledagainst an available budget and with actual store capacity for eacharticle or group of articles to determine whether actual funds andcapacity are available to support the replenishment quantity for eacharticle. For example, in one embodiment, the replenishment system mayreceive one or more budget parameters and/or one or more capacityparameters in the form of merchandised or assortment planning data froman assortment planning system or another system. The replenishmentsystem may then reconcile the replenishment quantity with the budgetparameter and the actual capacity parameter.

In another step (e.g., an eighth step), a supply quantity for eacharticle is determined.

In another step (e.g., a ninth step), order optimization is performed.

In another step (e.g., a tenth step), a purchase order is transferred toa central warehouse or vendor according to the determined supply channelor supply source.

In this way, supplies for articles or groups of articles may beefficiently and automatically replenished according to planning andsales data from various sources. The use of actual and projected salesdata in the determination of the requirement quantity allows for earlyidentification and automatic replenishment of increased quantities ofarticles that are selling at rates faster than originally anticipated,as well as decreased replenishment quantities for articles that areselling at rates slower than originally anticipated. The use of actualstore capacities in determining the quantity of an item to beautomatically replenished ensures that quantities of particular articlesare not procured beyond the capacity of a particular store or group ofstores.

As noted above, embodiments within the scope of the present inventioninclude program products comprising computer-readable media for carryingor having computer-executable instructions or data structures storedthereon. Such computer-readable media can be any available media thatcan be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By wayof example, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM,EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage orother magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used tocarry or store desired program code in the form of computer-executableinstructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a generalpurpose or special purpose computer. When information is transferred orprovided over a network or another communications connection (eitherhardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to acomputer, the computer properly views the connection as acomputer-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed acomputer-readable medium. Combinations of the above are also to beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer,or special purpose processing device to perform a certain function orgroup of functions.

In some embodiments, the present invention is described in the generalcontext of method steps, which may be implemented in one embodiment by aprogram product including computer-executable instructions, such asprogram code, executed by computers in networked environments.Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types. Computer-executableinstructions, associated data structures, and program modules representexamples of program code for executing steps of the methods disclosedherein. The particular sequence of such executable instructions orassociated data structures represents examples of corresponding acts forimplementing the functions described in such steps.

The present invention in some embodiments, may be operated in anetworked environment using logical connections to one or more remotecomputers having processors. Logical connections may include a localarea network (LAN) and a wide area network (WAN) that are presented hereby way of example and not limitation. Such networking environments arecommonplace in office-wide or enterprise-wide computer networks,intranets and the Internet. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat such network computing environments will typically encompass manytypes of computer system configurations, including personal computers,hand-held devices, multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced indistributed computing environments where tasks are performed by localand remote processing devices that are linked (either by hardwiredlinks, wireless links, or by a combination of hardwired or wirelesslinks) through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

An exemplary system for implementing the overall system or portions ofthe invention might include a general purpose computing device in theform of a conventional computer, including a processing unit, a systemmemory, and a system bus that couples various system componentsincluding the system memory to the processing unit. The system memorymay include read only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). Thecomputer may also include a magnetic hard disk drive for reading fromand writing to a magnetic hard disk, a magnetic disk drive for readingfrom or writing to a removable magnetic disk, and an optical disk drivefor reading from or writing to removable optical disk such as a CD-ROMor other optical media. The drives and their associatedcomputer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage ofcomputer-executable instructions, data structures, program modules andother data for the computer.

Software and web implementations of the present invention could beaccomplished with standard programming techniques with rule based logicand other logic to accomplish the various database searching steps,correlation steps, comparison steps and decision steps. It should alsobe noted that the word “component” as used herein and in the claims isintended to encompass implementations using one or more lines ofsoftware code, and/or hardware implementations, and/or equipment forreceiving manual inputs.

It is important to note that the above-described preferred andalternative embodiments of the present invention are illustrative only.Although the invention has been described in conjunction with specificembodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will appreciate thatnumerous modifications are possible without materially departing fromthe novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter describedherein. For example, although the stores in FIG. 8 above are illustratedand described as being linked directly to the assortments, theassignment could be via assortment versions as with the products.Similarly, the assortment versions used for linking the products to theassortments could be eliminated and instead the products linked directlyto the assortments. As another example, the articles described in theforegoing exemplary embodiments could be pre-packed articles thatcomprise standard collections of sizes and/or colors or other variantsof each article. Accordingly, these and all other such modifications areintended to be included within the scope of the present invention. Othersubstitutions, modifications, changes and omissions may be made in thedesign, operating conditions and arrangement of the preferred and otherexemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit of the presentinvention.

1. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media for defining anassortment plan in a computerized assortment planning system using anautomated process, the machine-readable media comprising program codestored therein executable by one or more machines to perform theautomated process, the automated process comprising: assigning a firstarticle to the assortment plan, the assortment plan being configured tomatch products to stores based on a store type, a store capacity, astore space on, product data, and timing data, the first article beingassigned to the assortment plan for a first article validity period;assigning a second article to the assortment plan, the second articlebeing assigned to the assortment plan for a second article validityperiod; assigning a first store to the assortment plan, the first storebeing assigned to the assortment plan for a first store validity period;assigning a second store to the assortment plan, the second store beingassigned to the assortment plan for a second store validity period;adding the first article to the assortment plan based on the firstarticle validity period; adding the second article to the assortmentplan based on the second article validity period; determining that thefirst article will be in a first delivery based on the assortment plan;determining that the second article will be in a second delivery basedon the assortment plan; determining an automatic replenishment procedurebased on the assortment plan; storing a determination of the assortmentplan; determining a requirement quantity for the first article based onboth actual sales data and projected sales data associated with thefirst article as well as one or more supply parameters of the automaticreplenishment procedure, wherein the projected sales data is based on amarkdown profile associated with a sales period of the first article,the sales period being divided into a plurality of predeterminedmarkdown time periods, the markdown profile including a plurality ofproposed markdowns, wherein each proposed markdown in the plurality ofmarkdowns is associated with one of the predetermined markdown timeperiods during the sales period, wherein each proposed markdown is basedon a difference between a target sales quota and an actual sales quotaat the predetermined markdown time period with which the proposedmarkdown is associated, and wherein the markdown profile is establishedprior to the sales period of the first article and the markdowns areautomatically applied over the course of the sales period based oncomparison of actual sakes with target sales for each predeterminedmarkdown time period; reconciling the determined requirement quantityagainst available budget and store capacity; and crating a purchaseorder for the first article based on the reconciling step.
 2. The one ormore non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 1, wherein theassortment plan comprises assortment dimensions.
 3. The one or morenon-transitory machine-readable media oaf claim 2, wherein theassortment dimensions comprise a demographic data and a retail conceptdata, the assortment dimensions further comprise at least one of aretail site capacity, a retail site price level, a location data, andsales data for a group of merchandise.
 4. The one or more non-transitorymachine-readable media of claim 3, wherein the first store validityperiod and the second store validity period are the same.
 5. The one ormore non-transitory machine-readable media of claim 3, wherein the firststore validity period and the second store validity period aredifferent.
 6. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable media ofclaim 1, wherein the assortment plan comprises assortment dimensions,the assortment dimensions comprising a level type and a capacity type.7. An assortment planning system for determining an assortment plan,comprising: a central processing unit (CPU); and a storage devicecoupled to the CPU and having information stored therein for configuringthe CPU to: assigning a first article to the assortment plan, theassortment plan being configured to match products to stores based on astore type, a store capacity, a store space utilization, product data,and timing data, the first article being assigned to the assortment planfor a first article validity period; assigning a second article to theassortment plan, the second article being assigned to the assortmentplan for a second article validity period; assigning a first store tothe assortment plan, the first store being assigned to the assortmentplan for a first store validity period; assigning a second store to theassortment plan, the second store being assigned to the assortment planfor a second store validity period; adding the first article to theassortment plan based on the first article validity period; adding thesecond article to the assortment plan based on the second articlevalidity period; determining that the first article be in a firstdelivery based on the assortment plan; determining that the secondarticle will be in a second delivery based on the assortment plan;determining an automatic replenishment procedure based on the assortmentplan; storing a determination of the assortment plan; determining arequirement quantity for the first article based on both actual salesdata and projected sales data associated with the first article as wellas one or more supply parameters of the automatic replenishmentprocedure, wherein determining the requirement quantity for the firstarticle based on both actual sales data and projected sales datacomprises comparing an actual sales rate of the first item with aprotected sales rate and determining the requirement quantity based onthe comparison, wherein the projected sales data is based on a markdownprofile associated with a sales period of the first article, the salesperiod being divided into a plurality of predetermined markdown timeperiods, the markdown profile including a plurality of proposedmarkdowns, wherein each proposed markdown in the plurality of markdownsis associated with one of the predetermined markdown time periods duringthe sales period, wherein each proposed markdown is based on adifference between a target sales quota and an actual sales quota at thepredetermined markdown time period with which the proposed markdown isassociated, and wherein the markdown profile is established prior to thesales period of the first article and the markdowns are automaticallyapplied over the course of the sales period based on comparison ofactual sales with target sales for each predetermined markdown timeperiod; reconciling the determined requirement quantity againstavailable budget and store capacity; and generating a purchase order forthe first article based on the reconciling step.
 8. The system of claim7, wherein the assortment plan comprises assortment dimensions.
 9. Thesystem of claim 8, wherein the assortment dimensions comprise ademographic data and a retail concept data the assortment dimensionsfurther comprise at least one of a retail site capacity, a retail siteprice level, a location data, and sales data for a group of merchandise.10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first store validity period andthe second store validity period are the same.
 11. The system of claim9, wherein the first store validity period and the second store validityperiod are different.
 12. The system of claim 7, wherein the assortmentplan comprises assortment dimensions, the assortment dimensionscomprising a level type and a capacity type.
 13. The system of claim 7,wherein determining the requirement quantity based on the comparison ofthe actual sales rate with the projected sales rate comprises reducingthe requirement quantity when the actual sales rate is lower than theprojected sales rate and increasing the requirement quantity when theactual sales rate is higher than the projected sales rate.
 14. A programproduct for defining an assortment plan in an assortment planningsystem, the program product comprising one or more non-transitorymachine-readable media having machine-readable program code storedthereon for causing, when executed, one or more machines to perform thefollowing method steps: assigning a plurality of articles to theassortment plan, the assortment plan being configured to match productsto stores based on a store type, a store capacity, a store spaceutilization, product data, and timing data, each of the articles beingassigned to the assortment one or more article validity periods;assigning a first article to the assortment plan, the first articlebeing assigned to the assortment plan for a first article validityperiod; assigning a second article to the assortment plan, the secondarticle being assigned to the assortment plan for a second articlevalidity period; assigning a first store to the assortment plan, thefirst store being as assigned to the assortment plan for a first storevalidity period; assigning a second store to the assortment plan, thesecond store being assigned to the assortment plan for a second storevalidity period; adding the first article to the assortment plan basedon the first article validity period; adding the second article to theassortment plan based on the second article validity period; determiningthat the first article will be in a first delivery based on theassortment plan; determining that the second article will be in a seconddelivery based on the assortment plan; determining an automaticreplenishment procedure based on the assortment plan; storing adetermination of the assortment plan; determining a requirement quantityfor the first article based on both actual soles data and projectedsales data associated with the first article as well as one or moresupply parameters of the automatic replenishment procedure, wherein theprojected sales data comprises a markdown profile associated with asales period of the first article, the sales period being divided into aplurality of predetermined markdown time periods, the markdown profileincluding a plurality of proposed markdowns, wherein each proposedmarkdown in the plurality of markdowns is associated with one of thepredetermined markdown time periods during the sales period, whereineach proposed markdown is based on a difference between a target salesquota and an actual sales quota at the predetermined markdown timeperiod with which the proposed markdown is associated, and wherein themarkdown profile is established prior to the sales period of the firstarticle and the markdowns are automatically applied over the course ofthe sales period based on comparison of actual sales with target salesfor each predetermined markdown time period; reconciling the determinedrequirement quantity against available budget and store capacity; andgenerating purchase order for the first article based on the reconcilingstep.
 15. The program product of claim 14, wherein the assortment plancomprises assortment dimensions.
 16. The program product of claim 15,wherein the assortment dimensions comprise a demographic data and aretail concept data, the assortment dimensions Further comprise at leastone of a retail site rapacity, a retail site price level, a locationdata, and sales data for a group of merchandise.
 17. The program productof claim 16, wherein the first store validity period and the secondstore validity period are the same.
 18. The program product of claim 16,wherein the first store validity period and the second store validityperiod are different.
 19. The program product of claim 14, wherein theassortment plan comprises assortment dimensions, the assortmentdimensions comprising a level type and a capacity type.